- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by marco＠familie-rauhut.eu

Hello; I have here my first Sinclair ZX81 Computer with 16K Ram extension. To check if the Ram extension works properly i want to write an small Basic program to check each byte. The first thing i struggle on is that 1 could not type in a for next statement. 10 FOR I = 17000 TO 32768 if I type in this line, the ZX81 mark an inverted "S" just before "TO". 10 FOR I = 17000 "S"TO 32768 I found out that the ZX81 "think" that there is an Sytax Error with the TO. So i tryed all combinations with and without spaces in that basic line.... Nothing matters. Is there someone who knows about that behaviour? Marco * Englisch - erkannt * Englisch * Deutsch * Englisch * Deutsch <javascript:void(0);><#>

10 years, 11 months

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Available: HP3000 serie 52 parts

by anders＠abc80.net

Hi, I have a bunch of PCB's from a HP3000 series 52 computer. Is some one interested in those? The machine itself was still working when it was taken out of service in the late 1990's. No guaranties are given though. The location is in south of Sweden, but I'll guess I can pack them and send them elsewhere. There is also a power supply available. A disk station and some kind of a tape drive, each sitting in a cabinet of their own. Free for pickup. Don't know more than this, but I can find out more details if anyone is interested. /Anders

10 years, 11 months

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Fwd: How to disassemble the DEC PC05 puncher unit?

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

Hi, I have an broken DEC PC05 puncher unit here. It seems the shaft which transfers motor power to the excenter mechanism is broken in the inside. So i need to dissassemble the whole unit, but have no idea where to start. I've read somewhere the mechanical puncher unit is not made by DEC but by some other company. Is there any known documentation about the DEC PC05 puncher ? Thanks, J?rg

10 years, 11 months

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using new technology on old machines. Was: PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 15 June 2015 at 22:55, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote: > >> On Jun 15, 2015, at 13:46 , Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote: >> >> On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 04:55:57PM +0000, tony duell wrote: >>> >>> Unfortunately I believe you. Use at least a thousand times more components than >>> you need to. >> >> Actually it's just two, a Teensy and a usb cable. (Sorry, I couldn't >> resist). > > LOL! I must admit that I used to scorn those durned kids using Arduinos to do the job of a 555. But then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized that times change, nowadays a microcontroller is as cheap and common component as a 555 was[..] I think I'm reasonably well into the pragmatic camp (ref. Chuck G.'s post). But one point about 555s and Arduinos is that I couldn't build a 555 more easily than I could build the MCU on an Arduino board (a more relevant comparision might be a 555 vs a Propeller chip) - they're all black boxes to me. Even a transistor, to some extent - I know exactly how it works, well, as much as any other EE anyway, but I couldn't build one. Or a vacuum tube..

10 years, 11 months

2
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FS: Telecom Gear- Switchboard, Phones, PBXes & More

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Clearing out the phone collection as well 1 Western Electric 551B PBX Switchboard. Fully Functional with a 24V Power Supply- Switch calls like a BOSS 1 Panasonic 616 PBX 1 Plexus by BBS Telecom PBX- Highly programmable with IVR About 100 vintage telephones, all kinds, 500 sets, trimlines, princesses, explosion proof, australian phones you name it its here. 3 totes of telecom cable, over 500ft of 25pair wire with 66 blocks 1000ft of aerial wire and outside network stuff. 1 Asterisk Server with TDM400p Card About 10 Analog Telephone adapters. You name it I have it. Make an offer on it

10 years, 11 months

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FS: HP 9836C System- Make an offer on it

by slandon110＠gmail.com

I picked this up last year, sat in the closet ever since.. Its an HP 9836C, In perfect condition with Owners Manual, Some software, Long HP IB Cable and some sort of weird network interface. The disk drives need lubed to work. Make an offer on it Its a heavy beast, Id prefer not to ship it, but I can if need be.. I live near Mount Pleasant Michigan, but could meet anywhere in Michigan for the cost of gas. Id like to see this go to someone who would appreciate it and use it. Thanks Steve

10 years, 11 months

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IBM 5120

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

I had acquired an IBM 5120 a few months ago but I didn?t have time to really check it out. It?s a fairly pristine example (32KB) with dual 8? floppies. It also came with a few manuals including the Maintenance Information Manual as well as the Computing System Logic Manual (still shrink wrapped). It also has a serial I/O diskette and a diagnostic diskette. It also came with a printer but I have not yet unboxed that yet. When I originally unboxed the 5120 I was a bit disappointed in that the shipper didn?t pack it as well as I would have liked (styrofoam peanuts) but there was other packing material so it wasn?t a complete disaster. Since it was a working unit prior to shipment, after an initial inspection, I powered it up only to have nothing happen. :-( I proceeded to take the covers off and noticed that the fuse for the display had blown. It was likely vibration related since I didn?t see nor smell any burnt components. Replacing the fuse, I saw that the cathode filament was lit but still nothing on the display. :-( After removing the logic chassis and removing all of the foam ?gunk?, I noticed that a couple of the boards as well as the connectors for two of the boards were loose. After reseating everything, success! I haven?t yet done a complete checkout yet, but I did enter a small BASIC program and it ran successfully. Now I have to find some IBM formatted 2D diskettes for this so that I can save what ever programs I enter. ;-) TTFN - Guy

10 years, 11 months

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PDP 11 - how to lock heads in a rx01 and rx02 - seeking advice

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: tony duell > I find [RL0x's] easier than RK05s Try taking out an RA81! (Somewhere I have pictures of the rig I built to take a couple of RA81's out of some racks I was sent. I should post them...) Noel

10 years, 11 months

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Altos ACS 8000-15A

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

Last week while bored and browsing eBay looking at things that are ending soon something I had never heard of caught my eye: an Altos ACS 8000-15A. I looked at the pictures and googled the brand and model and it didn?t seem to be a very common computer and there were no bids on the item so I put in a fairly low bid. I ended up winning! :-) The seller asked if it would be ok to bring the item to me the next time he was in my area. I figured that was fine since I was concerned that since it has a large 8? hard drive in it that it would be more likely to be damaged in shipping. I actually didn?t even need to wait very long! Friday he set out to drive across 2 states and dropped off the computer at my front door on Saturday morning. Talk about excellent service! I buy lots of untested items on eBay and usually they work just fine. But luck hasn?t held for me this time and so far the Altos doesn?t work. I can hear the drives spin up and all the voltages from the DC power supply are perfect. But nothing spits out on the Console 1 RS232 port. From what I understand the serial ports are wired DTE (which seems odd since you use it with terminals) and so I?m using a null modem adapter. Although with the null modem or without I get nothing. Anyways, I posted an album with lots of pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/9X8Gh Yay another project for me to fix! :-) -- Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com

10 years, 11 months

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PDP-12 at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

J. Victor Nahigian donated some M221 and M222 boards for the processor and TC12 LINCtape controller. They are in pretty bad condition, but are repairable. Warren wrote a test program for the M222 boards, and some of the just donated boards actually work OK. It will be nice to have some spares. Dan (the donor) brought over the now lubricated top of cabinet fan. He had to make some special tools to disassembled it but was able to lubricate the dry bearings. We will reinstall it next week. He also dropped off the system logbook and more diagnostic manuals. More scanning for Bitsavers! It is really interesting to see the service history of this system since it was new. The LICM scanned some of the missing MAINDEC documentation so we were able to run: MAINDEC-12-D1AC-D Extended Memory Control (EXTMC12) MAINDEC-12-D8CC-D_KW12A_Clock_Test Fails test #11 where the AC should be 0000 and is 7777 on the CLRB instruction. MAINDEC-12-D8CA-D-(D) KW12 Real Time Clock Diagnostic (KW12TST) shows the same failure mode as D8CC. MAINDEC-12-D6BA VR12 Display Test Runs, but we have no display connected. We connected the 'scope to the outputs of the VC12 display controller when MAINDEC-12-D6BA was running. Without a way to interpret the intensify signal, and no persistence in the phosphor, the resulting image was not too good. At least we know that the display controller is responding to commands and outputs signals that look reasonable. We reran MAINDEC-12-D3AD-D-D Tape Control Test Part 1 of 2. It still fails at 3400 with the error message "LGP GP=GPC PRESET" printed. We reran MAINDEC-12-D3GA-D-D Tape Control Test part 2 of 2. That runs fine. I bought the matching terminator for my current probe and was able to give it a try today. The normal setting for PDP-12, PDP-8/I, and PDP-8/L core is 320mA. When we debugged the core we set the voltage regulator to the middle of the high and low voltage settings that caused periodic errors. The low going part is the read current and the high going is the rewrite current. The result turned out to be 316mV for the read. Not too bad! -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 11 months

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80s magazines at Huntington Beach, CA estate sale

by brendan＠bslabs.net

I bought the two old Macs there this morning, but there's *years* of 80s magazines still there: BYTE, nibbles, MacUser, Softalk, Creative Computing, Personal Computing, Call-A.P.P.L.E, a few Macworld and PC Magazine issues, probably some others I'm forgetting. Only one more day for the sale, they'll probably let you haul them away for (close to) nothing on Saturday. Also there's a Toshiba T1000 and Apple II+ probably still there. http://www.estatesales.net/CA/Huntington-Beach/92646/931308 Brendan

10 years, 11 months

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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by steven＠malikoff.com

Following the recent discussion here on the 'DEC logo' topic, I've been mucking about with my own efforts to produce a replica PDP11 masthead panel for the DEC H960 rack. The idea is basically to make an SVG for a vinyl stencil which looks 'good enough' until I can find an orignal one. I've drawn CAD (vectors and arcs only - no splines) over images I've found on the web, from scratch, without relying on the Batchelder examples. So far the output is virtually complete but I need some help from the list, if possible - I would like the dimensions of the width and height. I know it's larger than a DEC filler panel. With thise I can adjust the drawing to the final size and continue on the project. As I need to mix a blurb with example images I've placed it under a blog entry on the VCF board at http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/entry.php?544-A-good-enough-replica… Please take a look, and thanks for any help or comments, Steve.

10 years, 11 months

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FS: Misc Computer Items.. 3 Intel Machines with OpenStep 4.2- Make an offer on Anything you are interested in

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Im just trying to clear out some excess stuff to make room for the SxS Telephone switch im getting. Everything listed below just make an offer on. Ill more than likely accept it :) I just want this stuff to go to someone who will use it. Plus i need space in my basement as an SxS Telephone switch is huge. IBM AT Clone. 640KB RAM 40MB MFM Hard Drive. Ethernet Card, set up with mTCP. 1.44 3.5 HD Drive and 5.25 HD Drive. Has ATI VGA/EGA Card as well Make A Fair Offer Toshiba Satellite 4010 CDS 32MB RAM 2GB HDD.. Has 3.5 drive, CD-ROM and Ethernet Card. Make a Fair offer Dell Dimension M233a. 32MB RAM 8GB HDD. Ethernet. This is running OpenStep 4.2 with fully supported video, networking and sound. 233Mhz Pentium MMX Processor. It runs it really nicely. Hp Pavilion 6630 500mhz Celeron 64MB RAM 10GB HDD. Runs OpenStep 4.2 with Networking and video fully supported. Dell Dimension XPS T450. Pentium 3 450mhz 128MB RAM 10GB HDD, ATI Rage 8MB Graphics, SB Awe32 Sound, 3C905 networking. And A USB Card.. All Fully Supported in OpenStep 4.2. This is a beast of an OpenStep 4.2 and with the 8mb graphics card, It does 1280x1024 at 32 bit color on any LCD you throw at it. It Looks great. Microsoft Systems and Development CD-ROM Circa 1994 Windows For Workgroups 3.11 Disk Set Windows NT For PowerPC, Intel, MIPS 6000, Alpha MS-DOS 6.22 Disk Set IBM Cartridge Basic for PCJr Windows 95 Original Release on CD-ROM and Floppies with Book and Key Code Thanks. eBay feedback upon request and I accept PayPal. Or if you are in Michigan and want to come pick it up you are more than welcome to come. I am in Central Michigan, North of Mount Pleasant Thanks Steve

10 years, 11 months

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SGI Indy available for collection in Sao Paolo, Brasil

by classiccmp＠crash.com

I think we've got a few active list members in Brasil, and somebody's got a nicely configured SGI Indy available for collection in Sao Paolo. > it has irix 6.2 installed (maybe) and (may still have) Maya and > Photoshop 1 with licenses. and medias for irix only. two hdds inside. > maxed ram. external cd rom. camera. 24 bit graphics card. (i may be > able to find the 8bit card). all cables (scsi, monitor, ...) > > if anyone want it, must pick it up in sao paulo soon. [...] oh and > everything is very, very clean. Original post is at: http://forums.nekochan.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16729781 Please check the original post for contact details - I have nothing to do with this except for the re-posting. Hope somebody manages to rescue the beast, --S.

10 years, 11 months

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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Pete Turnbull > z = about 0.5mm - you're trying to measure the taper on the edge of > the flange? Not easy to be accurate. Ah, I've just realized I made a mistake in a previous message. I thought 'z' was calling for the distance between the inner edge of what I'm calling 'the flange' (i.e. the edge the left-hand arrow of 'x' is pointing to), and the upright at the right end of what I'll call the 'bottom plate' (when the piece is mounted on the H960, the bottom plate is in a plane parallel to the ground - i.e. it's in a plane perpendicular to what I'm calling 'the flange'). That upright is the vertical (in this picture) axis at one end of 'z'. Having called up a flat plate, and a square, to help measure accurately, the width of the flange ('x') is 1.26 cm, and the distance from the outer edge of the flange to the vertical at one end of 'z' (i.e. the end of the 'bottom plate') is 1.57 cm at the 'bottom' of the plate (i.e. in this image), making the distance from the inner edge of the flange to the vertical edge of the bottom plate 3.1 mm - at the 'bottom' of the bottom plate. At the _top_ of the bottom plate (i.e. the inner edge, when the unit is mounted on an H960), the distance to the outer edge of the flange is 1.62cm, making the 'flange inner edge' to 'bottom plate side' distance 3.6 mm, at the 'top' of the bottom plate. So 'z', the variance between the two, is indeed 0.5 mm. Pete's spot on! Noel

10 years, 11 months

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OT: Pentium processor sizes

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

a 486 jump to p5~ impressive!! now to find one.... Collecting microprocessors is fun, and I am,trying to figure a way display the entire array in one large glass panel over it. Perhaps use a half of a sliding glass door as a cover over the display rack.frame. Any other ideas>> Ed # _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 7/10/2015 9:56:24 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, scaron at umich.edu writes: There absolutely was a P5 Overdrive from Intel for 486 motherboards ... I saw a few of them in the wild back in the day...

10 years, 11 months

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80s magazines at Huntington Beach, CA estate sale

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

good for searching... but if you want sharp images... get them on paper! In a message dated 7/10/2015 9:52:40 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, rdawson16 at hotmail.com writes: Most of the Byte magazines are here: http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm > Subject: Re: 80s magazines at Huntington Beach, CA estate sale > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > From: jws at jwsss.com > Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:33:39 -0700 > > > > On 7/10/2015 7:45 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: > > On 2015-Jul-10, at 5:39 PM, jwsmobile wrote: > >> <snip> > >> Gizmo > >> http://pictures.estatesales.net/931308/21760158/1.jpg > > That's the rear of a 70s colour TV, the stuff on the side looks like either/both convergence control or an early electronic tuning system with individual channel tuning. > > > > Actually, it looks like a Heathkit with the plug-in modules along the rear chassis, the manuals on top look like the right colour with the little title window cut in the cover of Heathkit manuals. > > > > Here we go, compare: > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/34737609 at N07/sets/72157613423708701 > > > > I think the estate one is an earlier model, probably early 70s, with the flickr-pics one probably a couple years later. > The thing that made me ask was that the grey thing was possibly a 1/4 or > larger motor, and maybe it was some oddly skinned disk drive. Now I see it. > > My cousin built one of those and had the best workshop TV in full color > till his wife made him put it in a box in the living room. Great fun > with the controls that pulled out after that, but not near as fun as a > 25" or so color tv on your bench. > > thanks for the info. > > I will try to get there tomorrow, may call you, Brendan and let you > distribute the Bytes. I'm looking for a particular ad in the 70s thru > 80's magazines and if I find it that would be all I want to keep. > > thanks > Jim =

10 years, 11 months

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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

PS: To clarify (if needed) what I mean by 'the flange': orient the piece as it would be if it were on the H960 (i.e. with the little interior tabs at the top, and the coloured panel on the front); the 'flange' runs down one side, along the bottom, and up the other side: it's a continuous piece, towards the back of the unit, in a plane parallel to the plane of the coloured front panel. HTH. Noel

10 years, 11 months

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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Steven Malikoff > I'm not sure I interpret Pete's measurement of 33.1mm from the back of > the flange to the front of the box, correctly. Noel also says the same > 'from the back of the flange' so I must be missing something here. Hmm. I thought for a moment I'd misread my calipers, but I checked again, and 3.80 is correct for the thing I measured, which is (on your IMG_3161) from the lower end of i/j to the upper edge of d/g. So clearly we must be using different definitions of 'flange', or something - or maybe his unit is somewhat different from mine? Here are the rest of the measurements from that image: 'k' = 'm' on mine, at 1.15 cm. That downward projecting flat (at one end of 'l' and 'm', which is at 90 degrees to the thing I'm calling the 'flange', the thing with thickness 'i', which is completely horizontal - along two axes - in that image) is cut back a bit, in the direction normal to the screen, from the end of the upper part (at the left edge of 'k'), which is why they look, from the slight angle in that image, like they aren't in a common vertical plane (normal to the screen) - but they are. 'l' = 2.6mm; 'h' is 10.64 cm; 'd' is 5.73 cm; 'i' is 2.70 mm. 'g' looks to be about 4.6 mm; I should mention that the corner below it (at the upper end of 'i') is not a right-angle, but a rounded thing with a fairly considerable radius - something on the order of 3.5 mm. 'j' is 3.35 cm. The edge labelled 'flush with bottom edge' is indeed flush with the left-hand end of the horizontal flange. On IMG_3162, 'q' is 1.16 cm; note that the left edge of 'q' is almost, but not quite, in a plane with the right hand edge of 's'. The left edge of 'q' is about 3.4 mm to the left of the right edge of 's'. 'u' is 1.13 cm. (This turns out to be 'z' in the third image.) Note that the little tab (the thing you're measuring 's' on) projects up under the 'plate' which you're measuring 'u' on; i.e. the maximum width of that tab, 't', is up underneath that plate. I can't measure it because it's not a sharp angle where it meets the vertical surface (i.e. in the plane normal to the screen) up under there; rather, it's a radiused corner (which you can see in the next picture). On IMG_3144, 'y' is about 1.56 cm (bit hard to measure that one; I should have used a flat to give me good end point at the RHS to measure to); 'x' is 1.25 cm; 'v' is 9.1 mm (ditto); 'w' is 2.85 mm. 'a' I can't really give you directly, but I can give you the distance from the upper end of a, to the upper end of 'w', which is 7.96 cm; add that to 'w' and 'v' and that will give you 'a'. Noel

10 years, 11 months

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Schematics/Service Manual for Yamaha C1

by ethan＠757.org

I'm just going to toss a feeler out there. One of my more recent most sought after machines was the Yamaha C1, a 286-12mhz MS-DOS "laptop" with 11 midi ports. I picked one up off of ebay, not cheap in it's non-working condition. I'm now working on getting it running. I'm looking for schematics or service manual. It's a long shot :-) I contacted Yamaha of USA already and they said they don't have documentation going back that far. Both paper or digital. My unit when powered on never seems to do a floppy seek, or boot. Caps lock and num lock don't trigger the LEDs. And it has an internal or external display dip switch. The unit always comes up set for external display, even though dip switch is set internal. I hunted inside and found 9 electrolytic caps were leaking. I cleaned up the mess and replaced them, but still no go. The traces I can see that look on the fence all continuity test okay. I have more caps on the way to replace all of the capacitors, and next step will be to look at the power supply output on an oscope to see how good or bad it looks. I have already archived the eprom data, and will be scanning all the documentation and archiving the floppies. I will make it all available online. I have some of the programming docs, some dip switch info, pinouts for the expansion connector (but unfortunatly no hard drive controller connector afaik) and more. Schematics would be good to go with that, as the mainboard has more than 2 layers. -- Ethan O'Toole

10 years, 11 months

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OT: Pentium processor sizes

by starbase89＠gmail.com

Hey. I'm sorry for the off topic post, but I couldn't think of another forum to ask my question. I'm just looking for information as to whether there are different sizes Pentium processor dependent upon whether the processor is for a desktop or laptop. I want to see if I can give my old Hewlett Packard OmniBook a little more juice.

10 years, 11 months

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PDP 11 - how to lock heads in a rx01 and rx02 - seeking advice

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

I asked for advice a while back on what to expect with moving a pdp 11, I was told to lock the heads in the rx01 and rx02 drives. I'M getting pretty lost in all the information about the drives, are there any good guides or sites with lots of pictures of the drives taken from different angles apart so i can get a better idea of what im going to be working with? Also, people tell me getting the drives off the rails and out of the rack is a pain, where would i find the appropriate information on how to do that? I really don't want to take the drives out of the rack, but if it comes to it, i would like to know how. I am scheduled to pick this stuff up in 5 days. --Devin

10 years, 11 months

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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by bob＠jfcl.com

> But with an rdbms and a nice front then it could encompass all makes and models. Linux, a web page form, some PHP scripts and MySQL and we're done. Any volunteers ??? :-) One problem is going to be authentication. If it has any contact information (and it seems like it would need to in order to be useful) then it's gonna become a target for SPAM. Bob

10 years, 11 months

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PDP 11 - how to lock heads in a rx01 and rx02 - seeking advice

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: devin davison > I was told to lock the heads in the rx01 and rx02 drives. Err, I think we told you to lock the heads the RL0x's, not RX0x's; the former use large rigid packs, the latter are 8" floppy drives. AFAIK, there is no need to lock RX heads when moving them - there is nothing in the manual about RX drives being shipped from DEC with the heads locks. > are there any good guides or sites with lots of pictures of the drives > taken from different angles apart so i can get a better idea of what im > going to be working with? Not that I know of, but the DEC manuals (mostly available online) are adequate. > Also, people tell me getting the drives off the rails and out of the > rack is a pain, where would i find the appropriate information on how > to do that? See above. > I really don't want to take the drives out of the rack, but if it comes > to it, i would like to know how. That's very wise - my last removal, it _really_ helped that I had read the DEC manuals before-hand, as I wound up performing a removal I hadn't planned on, and that had a tricky step I probably never would have found on my own, but which I had luckily read about in the manuals. Good luck on the move! Noel

10 years, 11 months

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Fwd: [SunRay-Users] Surplus SunRay 2 and SunRay 3

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

via The Rescue List ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Aaron Browne <gopodge at gmail.com> Date: Wed, Jul 1, 2015 at 7:43 PM Subject: [SunRay-Users] Surplus SunRay 2 and SunRay 3 Units - Victoria/Australia To: SunRay-Users mailing list <sunray-users at filibeto.org> The company I work for is about to undertake a total endpoint replacement. We are replacing all of our SunRay 2 and SunRay 3 devices - hundreds of units of both types. All units are in working order. Is anyone interested in providing a new home for any of these devices? Otherwise, they are going to be recycled. Victoria/Australia is preferred destination but we can talk other parts of Australia if required. Cheers, Aaron _______________________________________________ SunRay-Users mailing list SunRay-Users at filibeto.org http://www.filibeto.org/mailman/listinfo/sunray-users -- raspberry-python.blogspot.com - www.pyptug.org - www.3DFutureTech.info - @f_dion _______________________________________________ rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

10 years, 11 months

1
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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Steven Malikoff > It appears the top edge projects further than the bottom by a tiny bit > leading to a tapered appearance, but I assume the plane of the printed > inset panel is parallel to the exterior mounting surfaces. By top edge I assume you mean the top edge of the unit (we need a common term for the entire injection-molded plastic thingy), as it would be when mounted on the rack? And the distance you're talking about is the distance from the very front of the unit to the flange that projects out around the unit on three sides (sides and bottom), right? OK, I'm measuring mine (with calipers :-), and from the back of the flange to the front of the rim around the coloured insert, it is 3.80 cm at the top, and... 3.80 cm at the bottom. So no tapering. (And it's the same on both sides.) > A common method of determining radii is to use an engineers radius > guage. Which I don't happen to have... something to add to my tool wish-list! :-) > Failing that, try fitting a series of circular objects (coins etc.) > which can then be measured with calipers or micrometer. I did try with the butt ends of a number of large drill bits, but I didn't get really good results. I mean, you can tell when it's way off (too small, and the object 'lifts' off the surface at the outer edges of the object, too large, and you get a gap in the middle), but there's a range in the middle where it's hard to tell - it all depends on where you decide the ends of the curved part are. Oh, one note: when I gave the gap between the coloured insert, and the sides of depression it sits in ("it's slightly smaller than the inset in the plastic housing, by about .5 mm"), that .5 mm is on each side, not total. Noel

10 years, 11 months

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VCF Midwest visitors

by useddec＠gmail.com

I have requests from several list members to stop b y and do some shopping/ trading. I'm still on the mend from my latest replacement shoulder and will be out of commission for quite a while yet. While not quite up to the show, I have no problem with members stopping by. But I still have doctors appointments, PT, etc. I can see I-74 from my house and am about 10 miles west of I-57 by Champaign, IL. There are several good routes to Chicago from here, which is about a 3 hour drive. If anyone wants to stop by I only ask that you make a ball park appointment that will not interfere with my medical appointments. If I have an idea of what you want (LA120s, monitors, other large things) I can have it out and ready. I should be able to have some of my high school helpers to help pack and load. I'm not a morning person, but can make it work. Nighttime doesn't bother me at all. If I missed anything or have general comments, please reply. If you want to set up a time or have specific questions, please contact me off list. Many Thanks, Paul

10 years, 11 months

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what IBM system is this?

by simski＠dds.nl

found in the archives of CERN, this image is beautiful! but what IBM system is this. https://cds.cern.ch/record/1847692 -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen drukknop.nl

10 years, 11 months

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CDC disk drives (was Re: what IBM system is this?)

by seefriek＠gmail.com

During my mid- to late-80s tenure at Georgia Tech, we had 2 x Cyber 180/855, 2 x Cyber 180/830 and 1 x Cyber 180/990. I'll have to ask around for someone with better memory than me as to how many, but we had quite an ocean of disks. KJ

10 years, 11 months

1
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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

will this include micro vax also? Ed# In a message dated 7/6/2015 8:03:25 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, aperry at snowmoose.com writes: Is there any interest in starting a VAX-11/750 registry? I wouldn't mind knowing who else out there has one and where they are now. If you are interested, send me e-mail (vax11-750 at snowmoose.com). alan On 7/4/15 1:40 PM, Toby Thain wrote: > On 2015-07-04 4:35 PM, Mattis Lind wrote: >> Well. Despite all recent VAX-11/750 bashing it actually booted both >> VMS 6.1 >> and Ultrix-32 4.0 today. ... >> >> BTW. The CPU of the 11/750 is contained on five extended HEX boards, >> (L0002, L0003, L0004, L0008, L0011/L0016/L0022). Then there is the >> optional >> RMD (L0006) module and possible MBA and extra unibus adapters. >> >> I used a SCSI2SD card connected to a Emulex UC17 board. >> >> A booting 750: >> ... >> >> ULTRIX V4.0 (Rev. 161) (vax) >> >> >> >> >> >> >> login: root >> >> Password: >> > > > As a fellow 11/750 owner (sadly, not yet restored), I salute you! > > --Toby >

10 years, 11 months

5
4
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A 'good-enough' H960 |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| PDP11 masthead replica

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Steven Malikoff > a replica PDP11 masthead panel for the DEC H960 rack. That would be great! (I'd buy one! Or more!) But how are you going to produce the plastic housing? I suspect that's going to be harder than the inset coloured panel. > I need some help from the list, if possible - I would like the > dimensions of the width and height. The inset (the coloured part) is 8.45 cm high (it's slightly smaller than the inset in the plastic housing, by about .5 mm); alas, I don't have a metric ruler long enough to measure the width directly, but in Imperial it's 3-21/64" by 18-9/16". I don't have a good way to accurately measure the radius in the corners, but it seems to be about 8.5 to 9.5 mm. > I also would like to know of the outer edge of the masthead is a beige > colour, or even silver. The raised edge around the inset panel is painted a dull silver - like the old silver paint, but with a touch of grey in it. The edge itself is 4.1mm wide, according to my calipers. > The panel would be the inner bit with the radiused corners, the edges > being a seperately cut panel which is in front of the the detailed one. Not sure I follow this? The entire top unit, including the raised edge around the coloured inset, is a moderately complex injection moulded plastic piece; behind the front, it's kind of like a box that's open at the back, and there's a ridge around the back edge on three sides; the bottom edge is shorter, and the top edge is extended further back. Finally, there are a couple of internal tabs where it actually connects to the H960. If you want an original to copy, TopLine has one for sale on eBay (ignore the ridiculous price they've got on it, they are very reasonable). > I would also like to know how deep the recess is for the front. I > suspect the same as the filler panel bezel edge, about 3mm. 4.0 mm by my 0.5 mm ruler. > And also the depth of the plastic backing. You mean, how thick is the plastic in the housing? 2.7 mm in one place, 2.8 mm in another, 2.3 mm in a third? Interestingly, IYWR, in previous thread we'd mentioned how other people produced their own insets; one for a terminal server, and one for the LISP Machine. I looked at my LISP Machine one, which I had assumed was in a similar housing, but it's not! It does indeed fit on an H960 (the early LISP Machines were built in H960's), but it's quite different. It's in an extruded aluminium unit (of constant cross-section), with no end pieces (although the bottom plate has small squared cut out of the corners); the extrusion's cross-section is exact a capital 'F', but upside down. There are little square 'serifs' on the 'back' of the 'F' (the front side, when installed), and the printed panel fits in between them. Now that I look at it, it looks very similar to me to some things I seem to vaguely recall being used on earlier DEC machines (either a PDP-6, or a KA-10, I don't recall where it looks familar from). It being a more-expensive aluminium extrusion makes sense; that was back when that sort of thing (along with lots of lights! :-) was acceptable. Noel

10 years, 11 months

2
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How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY source of web content?

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Liam Proven wrote: >>On 3 July 2015 at 18:22, Jerome H. Fine <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: > > >>I understand that Netscape has been replaced by Mozilla. HOWEVER, >>since CHROME seems to be the most widely used, would CHROME >>be able to support the retention of ALL of my old e-mails and posts >>from usenet? Over the past 15 years, I probably have accumulated >>over 100,000 e-mails and posts in about 130 folders! So I would like >>an easy upgrade path which supports being able to view and modify those >>old e-mails and usenet posts. Can CHROME support that? >> >> > > >Chrome is just a web browser. It does not do email at all. > >However, the program that was called Netscape 6.x & 7.x is alive and >well. It was the "Mozilla Internet Suite" -- the final Netscape >releases were Mozilla, rebadged. As Mozilla Inc now focuses on >Firefox, the old Internet Suite was forked and is now called >SeaMonkey. > >http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ > >SeaMonkey will run fine on Windows 7. > >What you may have to do is this: > >[1] Use an old version of Thunderbird (Mozilla's standalone email >client) to import your Netscape 7 profile. Details here: > >http://kb.mozillazine.org/Migrate_from_Mozilla_Suite_or_Netscape_to_Thunder… > >[2] Use a newer version of Thunderbird to import the profile from old >Thunderbird: > >http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_migration_-_SeaMonkey > >This should import your entire Netscape profile and continue to work just fine. > >However, in the first instance, copy your whole Netscape 7.2 profile >from the Win98 machine to your unused Win7 machine. Reinstall Netscape >7.2 on the new machine and check it works. > >You can download it here: >http://sillydog.org/narchive/full67.php > >Then install SeaMonkey. It *should* notice and import your profile. > >It is very important to install Netscape *before* SeaMonkey. > Check

10 years, 11 months

1
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[SPAM key] - Re: How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY source of web content?

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >Terry Stewart wrote: > >> I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my >> classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile >> platforms. I >> want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5 >> standard as >> I can >> >> The RetroChallenge blog site is here. >> http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput… > > > I checked this site under WinXP and found no problems. The software > is very old, but a quick search did not locate the version. As I mentioned, I backup up my Win98SE system, then accessed all of the links under Netscape 7.2 without any problems. >> In doing this, I will probably need to say goodbye to old browser >> compatibility. As in old I mean Netscape 4 or earlier, and other >> pre-2000 >> browsers (and possibly IE 6, as it's not very standard). > > As I noted in the statistics, I am one of the VERY, VERY, VERY few > still using 32-bit Win98SE and Netscape 7.2 for e-mail and sending this > reply. While I prefer to stay with Win98SE, I may upgrade to 64-bit Win7 > so I can use a faster computer to run the emulator that I use: Ersatz-11. I understand that Netscape has been replaced by Mozilla. HOWEVER, since CHROME seems to be the most widely used, would CHROME be able to support the retention of ALL of my old e-mails and posts >from usenet? Over the past 15 years, I probably have accumulated over 100,000 e-mails and posts in about 130 folders! So I would like an easy upgrade path which supports being able to view and modify those old e-mails and usenet posts. Can CHROME support that? >> The website does have a few articles and resources of interest to >> vintage >> computer hobbyists, which I wouldn't want to make inaccessible. The >> question is, how many guys like us, those who dabble with old tech, are >> likely to use ancient browsers as their ONLY source of web content. I >> suspect not many. Should I worry about it? Any comments welcome. >> >> On a related note, I'd be interested if anyone on the list CAN'T read >> this >> page properly: >> http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/temp.html > > This link also found no problems under WinXP. > > I have not checked out either of the links under Netscape 7.2 since > any problems might be difficult to correct. After I perform a backup > of my C: drive and it will be possible to easily restore my system, I > will try them. As I mentioned, I backup up my C: drive, then accessed all of the links via Netscape 7.2 and found then all without any problems. >> It's a new blog page template I've developed using HTML5 and is mobile >> friendly. If it doesn't show up properly I'll be interested to know >> what >> browser you're using. >> >> Please be kind about the HTML5 and CCS code. I don't do this for a job, >> and it's a big learning curve for me. >> >> P.S. Here are some interesting stats. For myself, I've been a Chrome >> user >> for a number of years now. >> http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp >> >> Terry (Tez) > > Obviously, I am in the negligible category for still using Win98SE and > Netscape 7.2 along with 1280 by 1024 for my video display. However, > at least I upgraded to a flat screen monitor after both of my previous > tube monitors died a few years ago. As I mentioned above, I will access > the 3 links you provide after I backup my C: drive. I normally avoid any > links to the internet on this Win98SE system and always restore the > C: drive after I do so. If there is a link that looks interesting, I > send > an e-mail to the WinXP system and check the link there. And just in case, I did perform a restore to my C: drive again. However, under Netscape 7.2, I am able to CLEAN CACHE and that did seem to restore everything back to before I accessed the links. At the very least, all of the files that were placed into the \cache\ sub-driectory were removed and the total number of files and sub-directories reduced to the original value from before the links were accessed. I don't know if making sure that there are no extra files and sub- directories around after I use Netscape 7.2 to download my e-mail, but I use that criteria to determine if anything that should not be present has been added to the C: drive. I realize that pre-existing files could have been corrupted, but I can't monitor everything. Also, after I download the incoming e-mails, I physically disconnect the cable to the router so that any e-mails with links that could be activated to files that might cause a problem can't be completed without the internet being available. If anyone who has read this far has any comments or suggestions, they would be very much appreciated! > Under WinXP, I looked over your page on emulators. I don't know > if you consider the PDP-11 and the VAX as classic, but they were not > included. The PDP-11 has many emulators including Ersatz-11 produced > by John Wilson at dbit. The SimH emulator also supports the PDP-11 along > with the VAX and a number of other hardware platforms. > > Do you not consider the PDP-11 a classic system? I realize that most of > the software is still legally proprietary, but hobby users are allowed to > legally use early versions of the software under SimH. Mentec, who > acquired most of the frequently used software from DEC, is no longer > active with the PDP-11. The software IP seems to be with another, > but that is difficult to verify, let alone to confirm whom to contact. Terry, I have not seem any response yet. Did you see my reply? Jerome Fine

10 years, 11 months

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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:25:01 +0100 > From: Antonio Carlini <a.carlini at ntlworld.com> > Subject: Re: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750) > > If the intention is to avoid a huge list then excluding MicroVAXes and > VAXstations should produce a list of VAXen > that you probably cannot easily simply carry home on the bus. > > That would unfortunately exclude the VAXstation 8000, which is pretty > rare AFAIK. It would also exclude the VAXstation I, > which I imagine is also relatively rare these days. > > I don't think you can easily come up with a simple set of criteria based > on power connectors or buses or similar. > > Perhaps "too big to hug" is what you really want :-) > > Antonio > My VAXstation 8000 (Missing the E&S chassis) is too big and heavy to carry home on a bus. -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 11 months

1
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FW: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by bob＠jfcl.com

>Perhaps SDI is a typo for SBI, as in the 11/780? Yeah, exactly. Sometimes the fingers are faster than the brain :-) Synchronous Backplane Interconnect - the system bus used on the 78x and some of the 8000 machines. Bob

10 years, 11 months

2
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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by bob＠jfcl.com

>Johnny Billquist bqt at update.uu.se wrote: >some of the 8000-series stuff are probably the biggest ... Not all of them. The 82xx/83xx family was just one 10-1/2" chassis for the CPU - the same physical size as a 11/730, yet they were genuine single or dual CPU BI bus VAXen. Of course, many of their brothers were quite a bit bigger. And don't forget the VAXstation-8000... Bob

10 years, 11 months

12
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cctech Digest, Vol 13, Issue 5

by clemc＠ccc.com

On Sun, Jul 5, 2015 at 1:00 PM, <cctech-request at classiccmp.org> wrote: > Having the primary CPU just stall, and have the second CPU normally just > be idle until a page fault happens on the other hand is something I can see > how it could be done. ?Indeed that is exactly how it was done on the Masscomp MC-500 and I believe the original Apollo - this was know as "Forest Baskett Mode" - who wrote up the idea in a letter/comment to one of the architecture groups in the late 1970s when the chip was first released. The primary processor is called the "executor" and the second ?is called the "fixer." The fixer is either halted or runs a small loop keeping the translation buffer (TB) full. When the TB logic detects a fault for the executor, it is put in wait state and the fixer is restarted (if ned be) and refills the TB. When it's valid the executor is allowed to come out of wait state (a very slow memory fill). When the 68010 was released we make a small change the CPU board (a couple of PALs) and allowed the executor to actually fault. But the fixer still did the TB fill. But the executor could do a task switch and run some other code, while the fill was taking place. I'm not sure if Apollo updated their original CPU board or just designed a new one with the 68010, I would have to ask some one like Les Crudele to find out for sure. And Sun never did the Forest Baskett dual 68K trick. Sun-1's with 68000 ran a V7 version of swapping Unix (originally from Unisoft) until the 68010 came out when they could support VM on the "SUN-2" and Joy et all moved BSD 4.1 to it. One other note about the MC-500. If was the first commercial Multiprocessor UNIX (predating the 386 bases symmetric boxes but a few years) as well as being the first real time UNIX box. I still have working one in my basement. It has 4 CPU boards in it with a 68010 and 68000 on each, plus a 68000 in the display processor, a number of 29000's in the FP and APP's units, more 29000 logic in the Data Acq Unit, as well as 80186 in the network processor. All in all, a pretty neat federation of processors each doing their thing. Pretty cool for early 1980s' Clem

10 years, 11 months

3
2
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List Gripes

by chocolatejollis38＠gmail.com

Well, I am once again re-subscribed to this list. Why it or its moderators decide to unceremoniously unsubscribe me every few months without warning is beyond me. Especially annoying when subscription requests always take 2-3 days to process. It would be _really_ nice to do a warning message to people who haven't broken any list rules and haven't asked to be removed before dumping them, especially if this is an automatically-triggered event based on the member's lack of posting activity. Just my two cents.

10 years, 11 months

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SDK-86 Chess source code, anybody?

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

I have the docs and the ROM images from Nigel, but not the source. I did my share of googling, nothing but a piece or two, and not the whole thing. Anybody have this? Thanks, Randy

10 years, 11 months

2
1
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Looking for SGI Onyx parts

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I recently picked up a full rack ( https://instagram.com/p/4yEZlYNSxx/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n) It was an awesome project, now that I have a home where I can install 220v. Unfortunately, one of the 4x R4400 @ 150mhz boards is shot, and the System Controller is shot. I borrowed the latter from another Onyx system, but don't like leaving systems in inoperable states. Does anyone have these or other ONYX parts they'd be willing to part with or sell? Thanks! - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years, 11 months

2
2
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email gripe

by jws＠jwsss.com

On 7/7/2015 5:43 PM, Lyndon Nerenberg wrote: > On Jul 7, 2015, at 3:43 PM, jwsmobile <jws at jwsss.com> wrote: > >> If there were a technical reason to keep it in a simple format that would be fine, but as Al K pointed out quite some time ago, Google already indexes all of this quite fine as it and most search engines do, so the list is text searchable. > There are (at least) two fallacies here: > > 1) The entire planet has 24x7 ubiquitous and effectively free internet connectivity, and > > 2) All the visually impaired have software that can cleanly, accurately, and efficiently scrape the browser results these various web search pages display, and can articulate them clearly in an alternate format. This also goes for figuring out how to use the search pages to begin with. > > --lyndon > Not sure what fallacy you see here. The list goes to a location online that is searchable. Search engines index the information from there. Near as I can tell Jay plans on it being online 24/7 and there are no blocks to search engines reading the information and including it in their indexes. Nothing about html format prevents search engines from capturing the information as accurately as text formatting. My point is, that keeping it in text format is not a requirement to make put it in a form that it can be indexed. And I pointed out that some people had warned that all of our discussions were being included in search engines <Google>, as a possible source of objection. I only included that point because the same people lobbying for text form may also be the ones who may not want list traffic in search engines, and I conceded that is a separate point. Apologies to Al for dragging his name into the thread. Not sure where your 2 points came from. thanks Jim

10 years, 11 months

1
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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by bob＠jfcl.com

>P Gebhardt p.gebhardt at ymail.com wrote: > wonder how the ratio of VAX 6000s and 7000s in enthusiasts' hands > compared of VAX 11's in terms of numbers is? I guess that /780 and > larger systems are rare, but I'd guess that there are some more /730 > and /750 around. No idea if my gut feeling reflects facts, though. I know there are several people around with the larger VAXes in storage. That's why I asked about the "working condition" - I'm sure the number of big VAXes that could be switched on, say, this afternoon, is quite a bit smaller. FWIW, most 6000 machines weren't even that big. They're smaller than a 780 by quite a bit. I don't know about a 7000 or 10000 - I never actually used one of those in real life. Bob

10 years, 11 months

2
1
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List Gripes

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Dwight, yes I think so as I am on many lists and some hate the aol address more than others do Ed# In a message dated 7/7/2015 7:29:43 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, dkelvey at hotmail.com writes: As providers get more crowded, they will have more bounces. They tend to happen at times when a lot of messages are being handled. It seems that the list parameters were set when only a few bounces happened. Times have changed. I've only been back on the list for about a week and already it has determined that my address has too many bounces. There must be a parameter that can be set to adjust the sensitivity. Dwight =

10 years, 11 months

2
1
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PDP-11/23, accessories, software, manuals and IBM portable available (South Africa)

by steve＠cosam.org

I was contacted by a chap in South Africa (Pretoria area) who has the following kit available. If interested, please reply to me directly and I'll put you in touch. * PDP-11/23, with dual RL02 drives and 9 disks * 2x VT100, one modified to VT125 * DecPrinter III * HP 70470A plotter * RSX11-M 4 with manuals * RSX11-M 3.2 (I think manuals only) * Fortran 77 with manuals * IBM portable (ca. 1982) -- Steve Maddison http://www.cosam.org/

10 years, 11 months

2
1
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VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Great idea! ? Ed# Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Christian Gauger-Cosgrove <captainkirk359 at gmail.com> Date: 07/06/2015 8:17 PM (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750) On 6 July 2015 at 23:03, Alan Perry <aperry at snowmoose.com> wrote: > Is there any interest in starting a VAX-11/750 registry?? I wouldn't mind > knowing who else out there has one and where they are now.? If you are > interested, send me e-mail (vax11-750 at snowmoose.com). > Sorry for the scope creep; but perhaps it might be more useful/interesting to make it a registry of any VAX that has a name of the form "VAX-11/7xx"? (Which could also include the VAX 8600 and VAX 8650, since were originally to be called the VAX-11/790 and VAX-11/795.) Thoughts on that idea? Regards, Christian -- Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove STCKON08DS0 Contact information available upon request.

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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Anyone in SE US with a working 3B2?

by alan＠alanlee.org

Anyone in the southeastern US with a working 3B2 (any series) that would let me connect my 3B2 bus analyzer to it? Thanks, -Alan Hightower

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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FS: IBM 5250 8 Bit ISA Terminal Emulator Card With Software. Also IBM AT Clone System and Other PC Things

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Clearing out some excess stuff here I have an ISA IBM 5250 Terminal Emulator Card. Comes with the DOS software on a CD. Make A Fair Offer IBM AT Clone. 640KB RAM 40MB MFM Hard Drive. Ethernet Card, set up with mTCP. 1.44 3.5 HD Drive and 5.25 HD Drive. Has ATI VGA/EGA Card as well Make A Fair Offer Toshiba Satellite 4010 CDS 32MB RAM 2GB HDD.. Has 3.5 drive, CD-ROM and Ethernet Card. Make a Fair offer Dell Dimension M233a. 32MB RAM 8GB HDD. Ethernet. This is running OpenStep 4.2 with fully supported video, networking and sound. 233Mhz Pentium MMX Processor. It runs it really nicely. Make a fair offer Everything here is 15 bucks each shipped in the USA Microsoft Systems and Development CD-ROM Circa 1994 Windows For Workgroups 3.11 Disk Set Windows NT For PowerPC, Intel, MIPS 6000, Alpha MS-DOS 6.22 Disk Set IBM Cartridge Basic for PCJr Windows 95 Original Release on CD-ROM and Floppies with Book and Key Code Thanks. eBay feedback upon request and I accept PayPal. Or if you are in Michigan and want to come pick it up you are more than welcome to come. I am in Central Michigan, North of Mount Pleasant

10 years, 11 months

1
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How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY source of web content?

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

Hi, I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile platforms. I want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5 standard as I can The RetroChallenge blog site is here. http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput… . In doing this, I will probably need to say goodbye to old browser compatibility. As in old I mean Netscape 4 or earlier, and other pre-2000 browsers (and possibly IE 6, as it's not very standard). The website does have a few articles and resources of interest to vintage computer hobbyists, which I wouldn't want to make inaccessible. The question is, how many guys like us, those who dabble with old tech, are likely to use ancient browsers as their ONLY source of web content. I suspect not many. Should I worry about it? Any comments welcome. On a related note, I'd be interested if anyone on the list CAN'T read this page properly: http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/temp.html It's a new blog page template I've developed using HTML5 and is mobile friendly. If it doesn't show up properly I'll be interested to know what browser you're using. Please be kind about the HTML5 and CCS code. I don't do this for a job, and it's a big learning curve for me. P.S. Here are some interesting stats. For myself, I've been a Chrome user for a number of years now. http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp Terry (Tez)

10 years, 11 months

10
13
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out-of-mainstream minis

by mark＠markesystems.com

OP (about the 68000 box) here ? thanks for all the informative comments! I did spend some time using the 68010-based Apollo workstations, and as I understood it they were equipped with two processors, one shadowing the other, because not enough information was saved to completely restart an instruction ? particularly a block transfer ? if a memory paging operation was required. Apparently the 68020 somehow fixed this problem. (The 68008, BTW, was just a 68000 with limited address space and an 8-bit data bus. It was primarily targeted at deeply embedded systems, not ?general purpose computing? applications.) Thanks for the clarification about V7 Unix not requiring demand paging; this makes complete sense, since it was never mentioned in any of the documentation I read. And yes, it it was Unix V7, not ?System 7? (sorry, it was a while ago...). Thanks for the pointer to the Convergent Technologies boxes. This wasn?t them (the case was different: it was black, and horizontal-profile), but the functionality looks very similar; they could easily have had the same motherboard or other guts. Also, I forgot to mention in my original post that there was a 5-1/4? floppy on this thing, too. ~~ Mark Moulding

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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out-of-mainstream minis

by mark＠markesystems.com

In the late 80?s, I bought from a surplus/junk shop a (by then somewhat obsolete) Unix computer, branded UniSys, I think. It had 10 serial ports; one was the primary console, one was intended for a printer, and the other 8 were regular user TTYs. The processor was a 68000 (not 010, 020, or anything else), I don?t remember how much memory, and it had an integral full-height hard drive as well (60 mB, maybe?). When I say Unix, I mean real System-7 Unix ? not Linux or any other *nix. I thought it was really a pretty neat system ? 8 (or 9) users and a printer, just perfect for a small office ? or my apartment at the time, which had a terminal or two in every room. I learned how to program in Unix on that machine, since it matched exactly the System 7 manuals I had. Sadly, time moved on, I got married, and got rid of a bunch of ?useless junk?, like that computer. Recently, I?ve been reminiscing and poking around some on the Web to try to find information about it, but it seems to have vanished completely with nary a ripple. Has anyone else stumbled across this unit, or at least have any knowledge of it? It was a black case, about the size of a standard IBM-PC, with ten serial ports on the back and not much else. I?d sure be interested to know where I might locate data about that unit, or (gasp!) possibly even an existing one... ~~ Mark Moulding

10 years, 11 months

18
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11/73 CPU board print set

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I have a couple of busted KDJ11-A cards (M8192), and it would be nice to have a FMPS to look at, if I try and get them running. (I know it's not the DCJ11 chips - I have tried them in a known good board, and they all work fine.) Does anyone know the whereabouts of one? Does one even exist? I have not found any reference to one. The KDJ11-A User's Guide (EK-KDJ1A-UG-001) does not mention one. (BTW, that UG is more like a Tech Manual - it contains a lengthy chapter with detailed description of internal circuits.) Thanks in advance (hopefully :-)! Noel

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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My book is in print

by evan＠snarc.net

Last month I debuted the electronic version of my book, "Abacus to smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers". Now it's available on old-fashioned dead trees. The best place to get it is https://www.createspace.com/5596053. The second-best place is Amazon.com. Price is the same at both sites ($19.99) but CreateSpace sends me twice the royalty that Amazon does (even though CS is owned by Amazon... weird.) The book's web site is http://www.abacustosmartphone.com.

10 years, 11 months

1
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PDP-12 at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

Two transistors on the front panel that turn on PC and MA lights failed. They were painful to replace. Hopefully this won't be a weekly ritual. We ran more of the LINC mode processor diagnostics. All that we could figure out with no documentation worked OK. Hopefully someone has the missing documentation that we need. We worked on the TC12 LINCtape controller problem where it had a "LGP GP=GPC PRESET" fault during diagnostics. We are not exactly sure what this part of the TC12 does, something to do with tape groups, a LINC thing. It looks like the diagnostic turns the GP=GPC flip-flop on, then presets (clears) it, then tests to see that it was preset. Most of the time it works OK, and always works OK when run in single step. We replaced the M216 module that contains the GP=GPC flip-flop, but that didn't change the behavior. One of the M222 modules in the TC12 controller routes the GP=GPC signal to the status register. The IC on the M222 that accepts this signal is a SN7453. We have seen lots of failures of this unusual IC on other restoration projects. We swapped the M222 that routes the GP=GPC signal and the diag behavior changed. Next week we will replace the SN7453 and see if that fixes this issue. It will take quite a bit of work to fix the VR14, so we will try to use an oscilloscope in X-Y mode as a display. It might even work! -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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Front Panel Update

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Guys Well I'm back from holiday. I'm now sorting out what I'm calling the PDP 8/e B model panel. This has the markings for the latest type of selector switch, vertical lines between lamp groups and the line round the selector switch area. If anybody has not got an order in and wants one please let me know. I'm going through the wish lists to see whats next. Probably 8/f or 8/m One off's for old systems where there are very few examples in existance and need custom one off's please email me to discuss. Rod

10 years, 11 months

1
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what IBM system is this?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Simon Claessen > what IBM system is this. Now _that_ is a mainframe!! :-) :-) Noel

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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IBM Mainframe update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Sotomayor > my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. > ... > I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office Dude! If it doesn't take the whole room, it's not a _real_ mainframe! :-) Noel

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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Codex 6000 intelligent network processor ?

by jdr_use＠bluewin.ch

Is this something a classicmp'er should be interested in ? What is it anyhow ( since it seems to predate ethernet ) Jos

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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IBM Mainframe update

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

It?s been a while, so I thought I?d update folks on what?s been going on with my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. I?ve updated the webpage for it at: http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid <http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid> to indicate it?s current status. I?ve managed to boot it up into the version of z/OS (V1R5) that was installed. I discovered that some of the standard users were still present with their default passwords so I was able to log in and do stuff under TSO. I also figured out that one of the standard users had administrative capabilities, so I?m able to fully manage z/OS and make the changes necessary to have it work in my environment and to be able to perform any administrative tasks that I might need to perform. I?ve configured the OS/2 side of things to be on my home network, so I can at lead use one of the various tn3270 programs to log in rather than having to sit as the OS/2 screen and do things. I also reconfigured my 3174 controller so that it could ?talk? to the MP3000 so I can also use my 3179 terminals to log in (which IMHO are much better than the tn3270 programs). During all of this I acquired 8 more 18GB SSA drives so I have enough for a second 72GB array with some spares. I felt really fortunate to have found these drives as they are in no way standard (524 byte sectors) and you need the special carriers to work properly in the MP3000. Not to mention that they are SSA drives! I have put the drives into the MP3000 but have yet to configure them for use. During the checkout of the drives, I discovered that the drive that had been assigned for the ?hot spare? was dead. One of my next tasks will be to assign one of the new drives as the ?hot spare?. Since I have most things working now, I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office (see picture on the above link) rather than being in the middle of the traffic area of my shop. I?m still going to be doing some ?tinkering? with z/OS before I really knuckle down to (re)learn the various aspects of MVS and TSO. Then off to write some mainframe programs! TTFN - Guy

10 years, 11 months

3
3
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TTY 33 - Finally - UPDATE

by rickb＠bensene.com

Happy Independence Day to USA readers, and good day to all others, I found out what the problem was with the tape reader on the 33ASR Teletype. This morning I had some time to do some diagnostics. It appeared that reader trip contacts that are triggered by the cycle clutch were making contact just fine (thanks for the recommendation to check this first). However, there was no sign that there was any current flowing through the contacts, and there was no sign that the reader solenoid was activating. So, I started backtracking, and found the tape reader power supply circuit board. There's a 1/2 Amp Fast-Blow fuse on the board that I tested right away. It was open. I inspected the fuse under a microscope, and there was no sign that the fuse was blown...the filament looked intact. I then found by jiggling the fuse around, it would intermittently show continuity. There was absolutely no sign that the fuse had blown due to an overcurrent condition -- it was more like the fuse had some kind of mechanical fault. So, I grabbed a 1/2 A SB fuse out of my parts bin and installed it, and powered up the Teletype. Put a tape in it (STARTREK listing from OS/8 BASIC), and started the reader. It immediately started reading the tape and printing out the program listing. Good stuff! I have subscribed to the GreenKeys list, and am waiting for approval, which probably may take a little extra time due to the holiday. I need some ribbons, paper, and a new pad for the printhead hammer, but figure I should easily be able to find pointers to sources for these on the GreenKeys list. Now to see if I can find out how to make a facsimile of the tape reader control gizmo that DEC used to allow the PDP 8 to control the paper tape reader, so I can get this terminal properly interfaced to the 8/e. In the meantime, I'm going to hook it up to the Altair 8800 for a little immediate nostalgia. Thanks to all. -Rick

10 years, 11 months

3
2
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out-of-mainstream minis

by johnwallace4＠yahoo.co.uk

For the UNIX/68k box possibly labelled Unisys, and in the absence, so far, of anything more definitive: Have a look at Convergent Technologies Miniframe. A reasonable amount of info around. The pictures at http://niki.hammler.net/wiki/Convergent_Systems_MiniFrame may be helpful - one is of a back panel with multiple serial ports and a couple of others. That website is in German but others are available in other languages, and anyway a picture speaks approximately 1K words. No guarantees, but worth a look by the sound of it. I had the mixed fortune to use one of these briefly in the mid 1980s, primarily to use troff/nroff etc for documentation generation and software testing. Real development work was done in a platform-independent manner on a VMS box before being tested on the UNIX box. The System-V-based (?) Minframe software at the time was so unproductive that most of the document production was also done on the VMS box (a VAX11/725, for goodness sake, more productive than a hip/trendy UNIX box). Write in troff/nroff using EDT on VMS, put through a simplistic translation from troff/nroff to RUNOFF, check the output, repeat till it was about right, with only the final version being generated from troff/nroff on the CT box. My recollection is that the 68K OS we had didn't do demand paging, just swapping, even though if it really did have a 68010, demand paging would have been possible (and preferable). I believe these boxes were rebadged by various other vendors; the one I had was reportedly a prototype prior to being rebadged by Gould. Maybe Unisys were doing the same. It may have been Gould's (not CT's) software. Have a lot of fun john wallace ==================================================================== Re: out-of-mainstream minis Saturday, 4 July, 2015 0:54 From: ? ? "mark at markesystems.com" <mark at markesystems.com> To: ? ? cctalk at classiccmp.org In the late 80?s, I bought from a surplus/junk shop a (by then somewhat obsolete) Unix computer, branded UniSys, I think.? It had 10 serial ports; one was the primary console, one was intended for a printer, and the other 8 were regular user TTYs.? The processor was a 68000 (not 010, 020, or anything else), I don?t remember how much memory, and it had an integral full-height hard drive as well (60 mB, maybe?). When I say Unix, I mean real System-7 Unix ? not Linux or any other *nix.? I thought it was really a pretty neat system ? 8 (or 9) users and a printer, just perfect for a small office ? or my apartment at the time, which had a terminal or two in every room.? I learned how to program in Unix on that machine, since it matched exactly the System 7 manuals I had. Sadly, time moved on, I got married, and got rid of a bunch of ?useless junk?, like that computer. Recently, I?ve been reminiscing and poking around some on the Web to try to find information about it, but it seems to have vanished completely with nary a ripple.? Has anyone else stumbled across this unit, or at least have any knowledge of it?? It was a black case, about the size of a standard IBM-PC, with ten serial ports on the back and not much else.? I?d sure be interested to know where I might locate data about that unit, or (gasp!) possibly even an existing one... ~~ Mark Moulding

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Codex 6000 intelligent network processor ?

by jdr_use＠bluewin.ch

Is this something a classicmp'er should be interested in ? What is it anyhow ( since it seems to predate ethernet ) Jos

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY source of web content?

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >> >Terry Stewart wrote: >> >>> I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my >>> classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile >>> platforms. I >>> want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5 >>> standard as >>> I can >>> >>> The RetroChallenge blog site is here. >>> http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput… >> >> I checked this site under WinXP and found no problems. The software >> is very old, but a quick search did not locate the version. > > As I mentioned, I backup up my Win98SE system, then accessed all > of the links under Netscape 7.2 without any problems. Sorry about the SPAM KEY being included in the Subject line. The server which handles my e-mail frequently does that and I forget to remove it from the Subject line when I reply. Jerome Fine

10 years, 11 months

5
6
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Apollo systems

by linimon＠lonesome.com

You know ... I might still have some boards pulled from an ancient Apollo in the garage that I had forgotten about. IIRC dual 68k. Is anyone still maintaining one of those machines? mcl

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: tony duell > OK, I've done it many times, but ... I had the drives out in under 5 > minutes. It is not that hard... With a previously un-seen rack, it is _not_ guaranteed to be that easy, as Bill D and I can attest! Twice I've been up to get racks with stuff in them from him, and both times I had the same thought: 'Oh, no problem, we'll just whip the units out of the racks, and then load the resulting smaller objects.' Not so fast, kemo sabe. On both occasions there was an hour-long struggle to get things out of the rack; in both cases some of the bolts that held the slides onto the rack (removing them being the usual approach when something won't come out of the slides - detach the slides from the rack) were not all accessible without... getting the unit in the slides out. (Catch-22...) One time, we had an RK05 hang up because the front size Dzus fastener on the RK05 cover had popped out, and it was in the vertical channel of the H960 where i) we couldn't get to it, and ii) it prevented movement of more than an inch either way. The worse (worst) one was a BA11K that had one of its slides rust, and freeze. We finaly had to give up on getting that out, and load the rack with the BA11 still in it. That particular slide is _still_ frozen; my son and I finally resorted to partially disassembling the rack (one of the lowboy corporate racks) by punching out a couple of rivets, to get the BA11 out of it with the entire slide still attached; once out, we could then get the slide off the BA11. So I will echo the advice to take tools. Lots of tools. Noel

10 years, 11 months

4
3
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PDP-12 at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

We are missing the documentation for many of the MAINDEC-12 diagnostics. MAINDEC-12-D0AB-PB PDP-12 CP TEST 2 MAINDEC-12-D0BA-PB INSTRUCTION TEST PART 1 MAINDEC-12-D0CB-PB PDP-12 CP TEST 3 MAINDEC-12-D0SA-PB Auto Priority Interrupt MAINDEC-12-D1AC-PB Extended Memory Control MAINDEC-12-D1BA-PB JMP SELF MAINDEC-12-D1CA-PB Address Test MAINDEC-12-D1DA-PB PDP-12 CHECKERBOARD MAINDEC-12-D1FA-PB PDP-12 BASIC MEMORY CONTROL TEST MAINDEC-12-D3EB-PB TC12-F Option Test MAINDEC-12-D8CC-PB KW12A Clock Test Anyone have the docs? -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

List Gripes

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I get them too Jay is this because it is AOL mailbox? thanks Ed# In a message dated 7/3/2015 11:40:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, dj.taylor4 at comcast.net writes: I've been getting those unsubscribe messages on a regular basis, they appeared after I changed my mail from verizon to comcast. I was blaming it on comcast, gave them holy hell! But the email does get thru. On 7/3/2015 2:41 PM, Vincent Slyngstad wrote: > From: John Willis: Friday, July 03, 2015 8:52 AM >> Well, I am once again re-subscribed to this list. Why it or its >> moderators >> decide to unceremoniously unsubscribe me every few months without >> warning >> is beyond me. Especially annoying when subscription requests always take >> 2-3 days to process. It would be _really_ nice to do a warning >> message to >> people who haven't broken any list rules and haven't asked to be removed >> before dumping them, especially if this is an automatically-triggered >> event >> based on the member's lack of posting activity. > > I frequently get messages with this silliness: > > Your membership in the mailing list cctalk has been disabled due to > excessive bounces The last bounce received from you was dated > 01-Jan-1970. You will not get any more messages from this list until > you re-enable your membership. You will receive 3 more reminders like > this before your membership in the list is deleted. > > To re-enable your membership, you can simply respond to this message > (leaving the Subject: line intact), or visit the confirmation page at > > Maybe yours are being routed to a spam folder somewhere? > > Vince > > (01-Jan-1970? Really?) >

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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Have manual: "Operating Instructions for the Remington Rand Automatic Printing Calculator Model 96"

by alexeyt＠freeshell.org

It's a 32 page pamphlet, in good condition. "Revised 10-46", but does not appear to have a proper copyright. I found it recently at a used book store. I don't see it online anywhere. I am willing to scan it and/or send the physical copy to someone who needs it. $5 plus shipping to a private collector, free to a museum; museums (e.g. bitsavers) get dibs. Alexey

10 years, 11 months

1
0
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TTY 33 - Finally

by rickb＠bensene.com

Hello, all, Today I received a very nice, (mostly) operational Teletype ASR-33. It is in really stunning condition...no cracks, very little discoloring, everything is there, and the best part is that it is very clean inside, and it works great as far as I can test it in local mode, except for one thing: The paper tape reader has a problem. Put a tape in, clip down the cover (not this is all done in LOCAL mode), and press the lever to START, and the tape reads one frame, prints the character, the reader stops, and the printer acts like it is receiving a BREAK signal...just free-runs without printing anything more. Only way to stop it is to power it off, then power it back on again. I know there is the Green Keys list, but I'm not a member (though I probably should be now), but knowing the knowledge base of folks on this list, I figured I'd ask here first, and see if anyone has any ideas. The TTY came with a neat General Electric TDM-114 Acoustically Coupled Data Set. There's a cable that comes out of the terminal (it's a table top model, not a pedestal model) that has a six-pin connector that plugs into a socket on the back of the dataset. The acoustic coupler cups aren't very deep, and are a relatively hard rubber-like material, but there are little spring loaded rollers that are designed to grab onto the handset and press it securely against the coupler cups. Quite different from many of the pressure-fit acoustic couplers that I've seen. This one requires the use of on original-style Western Electric telephone...anything else won't latch into the coupler. Fortunately, I've got a few of the old Western Electric telephone sets around here so I can test it out. Not much information out there about this modem...when I get it working, I'll have to take some pix and maybe a video of it running with the terminal, and post a little video about it on YouTube. I'm wondering if perhaps TTL or (I'd never get so lucky) RS-232 signals are used for the coupler. I haven't taken the cover off the unit yet to determine if how the cable is connected into the terminal, as I'm really itching to hook this thing up to my PDP 8/e and do some "period-correct" computing. If the terminal only does current-loop, I think that I can make a cable that'll work with the serial card in the 8/e to get the terminal going (I seem to remember the serial card (can't remember the M number) can do both current loop and RS-232), but if the TTY could easily do RS-232, then it'd be a snap to hook it up. Last week I did order a nice little Black Box Current Loop to RS-232 converter, which will make things easier, but it'll be a few days before it gets here. Fortunately, the TTY also came with original Teletype technical docs, so once I get it open, I should be pretty easily able to figure things out. Along with the TTY, also came two TI Silent 700 780-series data terminals and an old TI calculator for the museum. Anyway, I'm really happy to have finally after so many years to have got my hands on a trusty old Teletype ASR-33. Happy Independence Day to all! Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

10 years, 11 months

3
3
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OT: Reading Mac Floppies

by starbase89＠gmail.com

Greetings, I know this may be OT, but can someone tell me if a modern PC (with a USB floppy drive) could read 1.44MB floppies from a 68k Mac? I want to use a Powerbook 190 for some word processing and need a means of transferring data. Thanks Joe

10 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

list consolidation

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the same list" configuration on the classiccmp server. It has always created a rather large administrative burden, but also lately just has not been working right (problems subscribing, duplicate emails, a continuous stream of bounces, etc.). The list would go back to the way it used to be - one list, one view, at classiccmp at classiccmp.org. The primary reason for the "two view" paradigm was due to (at the time) some very substantial off-topicness, flamewars, etc. For a period of time I was not regularly reading the list and thus missed those things when they were occurring. For the past year or so (and it will very likely continue that way) I have been back to regularly watching/reading the list - so on my part I will do a better job monitoring the list for "outbreaks", and will email the involved parties off-list whenever (if) it starts to occur. In addition, many of the most vocal flamers are no longer here. Separately, those who are more irked by off-topicness I would ask to get slightly more familiar with the DEL key J Best, J

10 years, 11 months

5
4
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AMT DAP 500/600 software available

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Last December I picked up an AMT DAP 600 (64x64 distributed array processor) which came with a set of manuals and QIC tapes; the manuals are on Bitsavers, the tapes were just recently (carefully) recovered by Bear and I thought I'd make them available in case anyone out there has a DAP 500 or 600 and is looking for software, since this seems to be pretty hard to come by. The archive is at: http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/dap/ (I'll be forwarding this on to Al as well so that it might someday make it onto Bitsavers). Tapes 1 and 2 are the vital ones, these include the Sun-based host software (SCSI driver, host diagnostics and tools, assemblers and FORTRAN-PLUS compiler). The rest are additional libraries (Image Processing, DSP, etc) and a few backup tapes with what look like interesting demos (I haven't tried them yet). In other news, thanks to Bear's efforts my DAP 600 is now running nicely, if you want to see a (crummy cellphone) video of it rendering the Mandelbrot set, check this out: http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/dap/mandelbrot.mp4 Thanks, Josh

10 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

BA23 Cab Kit for a Microvax 3400 (KA640)?

by rob＠bitscience.ca

Hi folks, I?ve got an empty BA23 (originally used for a 11/23 system), and a KA640 with the appropriate memory. I know that the KA640 was more commonly used in the larger BA213 cabinets, but is it reasonable to put it in the BA23? Is there a cab kit for that combination? What would it include ? just the rear panel, or was there a replacement front panel as well? If such a kit exists (in either form), does anyone have a spare they might be willing to part with? Thanks, Rob

10 years, 11 months

2
1
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8/e panel

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

Rod, I received the panel, and thought I'd share with anyone on the fence, it's stunning!? It fit's my 8/m perfectly.? I think the rotary switch is has the smaller angles of the 'B' style panel, and I'm looking forward to checking those out as well. Since this one doesn't have holes for the keyswitch and selector switch, I'm wondering what the best way is to mark the spot for drilling.? At first I was thinking of making a template, but probably I can just mark and trill at the midpoint between the top and bottom marks of the selector switch; and for the keyswitch, which is not PCB mounted, and therefore a bit more flexible, just drill the center of the middle colored rectangle in the group of 3 on the left. Not being mechanically giftec, I figure I will make the mark, and do a tiny pilot drill, then cover over with painters tape before drilling the full-size holes. Any suggestions? Thanks again for the effort you have put into these beautiful panels! Dave

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Sean Caron > I think there's a lot of good advice here Lots of good advice here; any chance we can capture it (and the rest in this thread) in a Wiki page? (Hint, hint... :-) Noel

10 years, 11 months

7
6
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seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Sean Caron > Anyone got a spare set of rails? It turns out the company that built rails for the 11's BITD is still in business, and still selling rails. I don't think they still make the exact model used on various -11's, but they have almost identical units. (Now, whether they have holes in the right places, I'm not sure. I was going to buy one to see if the coating on the modern ones looks to be the same thing as the old ones, but they were kind of pricy - $130 or so, IIRC - so I'm holding off at the moment.) The company is General Devices, and you can see their slides here: http://generaldevices.thomasnet.com/category/solid-bearing-slides?plpver=10 I think the model we'd want would be like the CTHS-124 or CTRS-124 or something. They don't sell retail, but they gave me the name of a dealer who will: Newark/element14 North America National Distributor 1-800-4-NEWARK (1800-263-9275) If you went this route, you'd probably have to replace both sides, but I think they big issue would be the holes. Noel

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

out-of-mainstream minis

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Christian Gauger-Cosgrove > The other 1ESS/1AESS switch is a complete and functional unit, still in > service, last I heard. But there are plans to scrap it and put in a > modern switch in its place. Saving it would be a difficult proposition, > to say the least. I'd try to get the Smithsonian involved. This is a _very_ significant machine, of national importance, and a national institution like the Smithsonian should have one. Let me know if I can help, e.g. by getting heavy hitters like Vint Cerf involved. Noel

10 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

out-of-mainstream minis

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

On 2015-07-02 02:36 PM, tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: >> > I share your favourite(s). In the danish IT-museum-to-be (www.datamuseum.dk) we have two >> > P857-based systems running. We have lots of spare parts and nearly all documentation, so >> > if you need something, you are welcome to ask. > Unfortunately I don't own anything in that series :-(. What I have is : > > P850 in the 6U rack box. I have the CPU technical manual and user manuals for it. > > P851 in card cage with quite a bit of I/O and twin 8" floppies. I have the user manual, CPU and I/O > technical manuals and manuals for the floppy drive unit, including the CDC manual for the drives themselves > > P854 in cardcage with floppy drives and hard disk controller. Alas the X1215 hard disk was scrapped before > I got it. I have a preliminary CPU technical manual, and of course I/O boards are the same as the P851 ones. > > Quite a few spare boards including complete P851 and P854 CPU board sets, I/O, RAM, extender board, > prototyping boards (some have been used, I think I even have a brand new one), a single-chip P800 CPU, > and so on. > > The manuals I am looking for (some hope!) are : > > The full P854 CPU technical manual (the one I have does not include the microcode source, that is 'to be > supplied'). > > Information on the hard disk controller for the X1215 in the P854 chassis. This is one eurocard with > an 8X305 or something on it. I have some handwritten notes + a block diagram nothing more. > > P850 Core memory module technical manual > > P850/855 series I/O board technical manuals. > > It is possible I could get the manuals I have scanned if there is any serious interest > > -tony There are some manuals online, but those are from the software side: http://www.theoengel.nl/P800/ and http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/divcomp/doc/index.html. > > > > P850 I/O board technical manuals Fred Jan

10 years, 11 months

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How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY sour...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

the fun think about the old lunx browser is you could run it on a pc 8088 old system! I have a pc speed little laptop and used the lynx in on the road applications we had a free net here in phx and many people used it for ages... it was fun to use old machine with lynx but if I wanted to really work though out came IE explorer or netscape get the fastest machine I could get and a t1 LINE OR EVENTUALLY MY OWN CABLE AND DSL CONNECTION. Ed# In a message dated 7/2/2015 5:14:33 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, billdegnan at gmail.com writes: I have been using Mosaic on my OpenVMS system, almost unusable, but fun. It's more important in this day and age to keep up with the web publishing standards than maintain backward compatibility. Google penalizes sites that are not mobile friendly in their rankings. If you can't be found, what's the point? On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 7:24 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > On 07/02/2015 03:26 PM, Terry Stewart wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my >> classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile platforms. >> I >> want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5 standard >> as >> I can >> >> The RetroChallenge blog site is here. >> >> http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput… >> . >> >> In doing this, I will probably need to say goodbye to old browser >> compatibility. As in old I mean Netscape 4 or earlier, and other pre-2000 >> browsers (and possibly IE 6, as it's not very standard). >> > > I've got a couple systems with IE 6.1, but generally I go for Opera 10.64 > or thereabouts. Still very useful and not very demanding on system > resources. > > I'll let you know about your web page later. > > --Chuck > > >

10 years, 11 months

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How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their ONLY sour...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

wasn't lynx before even Internet explorer 1.0? Heck if you have retro computer site make it look as old fashioned as you can then it is retro... then if people don't like it... well... you know the rest <grin> lynx might be too primitive... no screen graphics on page as you scroll make the retro site early graphical with nasty looking fonts... lots of 'under Construction signs some nasty lo res motion gifs Ed _www.amecc.org_ (http://www.amecc.org) In a message dated 7/2/2015 5:21:03 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG writes: > Subject: Re: How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as their > ONLY source of web content? I didn't see the original of this, probably (based on the headers) because it was sent through gmail. But, assuming the Subject: is an accurate guide to the content, I may qualify. My use of the Web falls into four categories: (1) At work, for work purposes, on work-owned and work-administered machines. This is minimal and done when the job in question has some internal tool that desn't provide any saner interface. (2) Over others' shoulders, as it were; for example, I have had people hand me palmtop comput...umm, "smart phones", displaying something I suspect was obtained as a Web page. (3) Scripted fetching of, eg, webcomic image files. (There are a handful of webcomics which I find worthwhile enough to bother setting up such scripted fetches for.) (4) lynx. So far, I haven't run into anything that I care enough about to provoke me to bother finding/building anything more elaborate than lynx for my own use. Does lynx count as "=< Netscape 4 or IE 6"? Is my sample size of one relevant for your purposes? Only you can say. :-) /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

10 years, 11 months

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Solstice (or Solaris) Disk Suite 4.0 software

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

I'm looking for a copy of Solstice (or Solaris) Disk Suite 4.0 software. A bounty is available... Cheers, Lyle -- 73 AF6WS Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

10 years, 11 months

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seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

Ive been trying to get a pdp 11 for quite a few years now, I recently found someone selling a 11/34 with related gear in a couple of racks Here in my state of florida. I jumped at the chance and bought it, i have not found anything for sale this close to me before, yet alone in my state. The plan is to go get it all later this week. It is a 11/34 in a rack with a bunch of related Rl drives and a couple of big reel to reel tape drives. Not sure the specifics anymore, after I paid him he took down the ad, and i did not write down the details. What I want to ask is is there anything i should look out for, any precautions I can take to make sure this all gets back in one piece? Especially in relation to the RL drives, ive never dealt with any of this equipment before and am not sure what to expect. The plan is to rent a uhaul trailer and go over there in a truck, and to take everything delicately out of the racks and put it into the trailer, and to put the empty racks into the truck. Any advice that could help or prepare me for what i should expect to need to do once i get there would be much appreciated.

10 years, 11 months

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seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: devin davison > any precautions I can take to make sure this all gets back in one > piece? Especially in relation to the RL drives Other people have covered most of this; my additional advice is to download the RL01/RL02 manual, and read it thoroughly. It covers the process on how to open an un-powered RL0x drive (it's not obvious/trivial), and how to lock the heads for moving the drive. > From: Jerome H. Fine > make sure that a fast (emergency?) stop does not shift the load. True; stack all the stuff along the front wall of the truck enclosure, and use shipping straps, etc, liberally. Noel

10 years, 11 months

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Recommendations for Packers/Freighters near Fresno, CA?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I have a full-height rack of computer stuff I need to get packed up and shipped from near Fresno, CA (Reedly, to be specific). I was hoping to use Craters & Freighters as I've used them before and they seem to do OK work, but they don't have a location near enough. I'm not too familiar with other options -- anyone know of anyone in that area that they'd recommend? Or maybe a long road trip is in my future. And a truck... Thanks, Josh

10 years, 11 months

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48mb NeXT slab ram up for grabs

by salgernon＠me.com

2 x 16mb 72 pin 70ns 2 x 8mb 72 pin 70ns pulled from a working next slab that I upgraded; I've no use for them, so FFFS. (Invent an acronym that doesn't involve you having to send me $.73 via paypal and send me your mailing address, or pick up in Ben Lomond, CA) Cheers, --sma

10 years, 11 months

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equipment available

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Some have asked if I'm just posting gear from ads I see online in my "equipment available" deals. The answer is no; I very frequently get individuals emailing me directly about systems they want to dispose of, so unless I was blind-CC'd, these equipment available deals are generally not known elsewhere (not ebay, craigslist, etc.). When I pass these deals on to someone, I don't ask anything in return. Just want to see the gear saved by an interested party. So. a new email just crossed my desk for HP fans. A service company is wanting to divest (ie. $ell) their legacy HP inventory consisting of.. . (3) HP1000 A900 2199E chassis. . (41) A900, (12) A990, and (12) E-Series PCB boards such as sequencer, memory controller and memory, data path, cache controller, interface boards (Mux, HPIB, Serial, 802.3 LAN). . Tape Drives (7979 and 7980). . Terminals (2392A, 700/94). . Disk Drives (7937XP, C2203, 670XP). I have no interest in A series machines myself. I always have an interest in spare E-series boards, so that part of it I may pursue. If anyone is interested in the rest, please contact me off-list and I'll put you directly in touch with the seller/owner. For fans of the 1000 21MX M/E/F, please note that the A-series are fairly "different" machines and not interchangeable with M/E/F boxes. Best, J

10 years, 11 months

4
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list consolidation

by cctalk＠beyondthepale.ie

> > FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the > same list" configuration on the classiccmp server. It has always created a > rather large administrative burden, but also lately just has not been > working right (problems subscribing, duplicate emails, a continuous stream > of bounces, etc.). The list would go back to the way it used to be - one > list, one view, at classiccmp at classiccmp.org. > Excellent. Thank you Jay for providing this unique resource and for putting up with all the grief that goes with it. I've looked after a few mailing lists in a previous life but only on the technical side. It was difficult enough at times and I am well aware how hard it is to please everyone but I've never had to deal with the flamefests, feuds, off-topicness and other human issues so I can only admire your patience, tolerance and ability to achieve the seemingly impossible as a matter of routine, not to mention managing to keep the level of spam which gets through to as near to absolute zero as it gets. > > The primary reason for the "two view" paradigm was due to (at the time) some > very substantial off-topicness, flamewars, etc. For a period of time I was > not regularly reading the list and thus missed those things when they were > occurring. For the past year or so (and it will very likely continue that > way) I have been back to regularly watching/reading the list - so on my part > I will do a better job monitoring the list for "outbreaks", and will email > the involved parties off-list whenever (if) it starts to occur. In addition, > many of the most vocal flamers are no longer here. Separately, those who are > more irked by off-topicness I would ask to get slightly more familiar with > the DEL key J > I hope that we will all do our best to restrain ourselves and keep things civil and on-topic and to think carefully about whether what we are about to post will be a useful contribution to the discussion that at least a portion of the membership will be likely to be interested in reading and that we will bear in mind that some effort in presentation has only to be made once by the poster but will be greatly appreciated by the all of the many recipients when they find the conversation that much easier to follow. For me, the DEL key simply does not function as a solution to those who prefer to have write-only access to mailing lists and I tend to reach for the UNSUB key instead. Thankfully this has never been necessary here, due in no small part to the behind the scenes hard work of Jay and the list moderators. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

10 years, 11 months

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Logos and typefaces and fonts (oh, my!) [was: RE: DEC Logo]

by RichA＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

From: Dave G4UGM Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 8:43 AM >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Toby Thain >> Sent: 30 June 2015 14:10 >> On 2015-06-30 4:44 AM, simon wrote: >>> On 29-06-15 14:56, Toby Thain wrote: >>>> On 2015-06-29 3:54 AM, simon wrote: >>>>> the front of the internal bus options maintenance manual in front of me. >>>>> But looking at the f in 8/f gives me the impression they mixed some >>>>> fonts for the logo and taking a closer look at the line: >>>>> "digital equipment corporation . maynard. massachusetts" >>>>> is proving both of us wrong. the y in maynard is a rounded version, >>>>> but both futura and avant garde hve a straight y. >>>>> "...the search continues..." >>>> Can you scan the page you're looking at? >>> tada.wav: https://hack42.nl/mediawiki/images/a/a7/Dec_footer.png >>> it is also used on the front of the pdp8/f here at our museum. > If it?s the oldest logo why do Straight Eights have a serifed font... > http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp8/images-3C8F62C8/R3378-hp.jpg http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/DEC/pdp-1/DEC.pdp_1.1960.… This early brochure for the PDP-1 features the vertical d e c logo in a picture, as well as a serif face for titles and *on the machine*. Our PDP-7 likewise has a serif face for "Digital Equipment Corporation" on its name plate, with an outline block sans-serif "PDP-7". A brief survey of the manuals for the 18-bit systems on Bitsavers shows that the change from a serif face for titles occurred during the development of the PDP-7 documentation: The preliminary edition of the User Handbook has the system name in a block serif typeface, while the release edition has the name in a block sans-serif. The PDP-6 (36-bit system) also uses the serif face; the PDP-8 is schizophrenic, and the PDP-9 et seq. use sans-serif. Note that I use the terms (type)face and logo, not "font". Until Apple bastardized the term, a _font_ was a package of metal type in a particular _typeface_, and was the unit by which type was ordered from a foundry. A _logo_ was a special item, cast as a single unit for printing, not a collection of individual pieces of type. Someone in this thread mentioned having been in the graphics design trade, and can certainly back me up on this, as well as on the fact that advertising houses and departments generally designed their own lettering for lithographic reproduction rather than using commercially available typefaces; the latter were used for printed materials consisting of large stretches of text rather than one-offs. (A company might adopt a face, or commission one, as part of the house identity, in which case the lettering done by the graphics people would probably resemble the face, but it's unlikely that it would be cast at the large sizes needed for advertising, since each size requires a set of steel punches to be engraved and a set of matrices to be produced.) Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/

10 years, 11 months

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Front Panels Personal Update

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Guys I'm just about done sending first batch front panels Needless to say I have had some feed back on reqirements. As well as the variations of 8/e panels, 8/f 8/i 8/L and 8/m have been mentioned. ; Of these the 8/f seemed like a good place to start. I have the white border and DEC logo in place. When it came to the address an interesting issue arose. DEC used their own font, It can be identified like this The letter a is formed by a circle with a vertical bar on the right hand side. This font is used for titles and the like in handbooks of this period. I'm going to have go at building this font as a nornal windows font and adding it those available on windows. If anybody has aready done this I'd like to hear from them. I'm on holiday from 25-JUN-2015 to 2-JUL-2015. We go to the big Ham Radio meeting in Friedrichshafen every year. I should be able to do email but not much else Finally I am in need of the following cards for my 8/e -- M8330 - KK8E Timing board (system clock) -- M8340 \_ optional KE8E EAE board 1 -- M8341 / optional KE8E EAE board 2 xx M8310 \_ KK8E CPU control (/I already have this/) -- M8300 / KK8E CPU registers -- M837 - KM8E or MC8E extended Memory & Time Share control Can I get a basic system up without the 8340/41 and the M837? If yes then I just need the M8330 AND M8300 _Can you help bring my 8/e back to life?_ Rod Smallwood

10 years, 11 months

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list consolidation

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

ditto but I never complained as I was grateful that it existed in the first place! Ed# In a message dated 6/30/2015 6:35:05 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, healyzh at aracnet.com writes: On Jun 30, 2015, at 11:35 AM, "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote: > FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the > same list" configuration on the classiccmp server. And there was much rejoicing! Personally I've always hated the two list view. Zane

10 years, 11 months

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Request for web development (ccmp)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I have a rather long list of enhancements to the classiccmp website that I'd like to make, and IANAWD (I am not a web developer). In the past I have always had one of the staff web developers here make minor changes around the edges, but my list of enhancements is now "bigger than that". Are there any experienced web developers on the list that have some free time (*chuckle*) and would like to contribute some time to the hobby? I'd rather a fellow hobbyist work on this as a labor of love than one of my web developers who really doesn't "get it". I may be able to put together a few clams to help entice. If there's any interest, please contact me off-list. Best, J

10 years, 11 months

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equipment available

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

A gentleman in Miami Springs, FL emailed me and has the following available: Two DEC H960 cabinets with headers & side panels containing the below 11/34 cpu Three RL01/RL02 drives (picture seems to show 1 rl02 and 2 rl01?s, can?t be sure) TE10W ? mag tape drive Full library of RSXM manuals Spare 11/34 cpu Spare power supply ?Many spare circuit boards, disks, and tapes? Two VT100 terminals Two LP11-VA line printers ?Single owner, known to be working? Owner is asking $600, does not want to pack/ship If interested, email me off-list and I?ll get you contact information. Please, only people that are serious about the system and are able to pick it up safely. Best, J

10 years, 11 months

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Advice Requested on Life Expectancy of a PC Windows System

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I would appreciate some advice on both the software and the hardware life expectancy of a PC Windows System. While the hardware / software of the second and third system are almost 10 years old, I don't consider them, let alone the first system, topics for this list. But since my goal is to support running legacy software, especially including the RT-11 operating system for the PDP-11 computer, I request your indulgence. At present, I have three systems that I am running: (a) A 12 year old system that I am very pleased with that runs 32-bit Windows 98SE. I really only use it for e-mail under Netscape 7.2 and to run the DOS variant of Erstaz-11 in FULL SCREEN mode. It consists of a 0.75 GHz Pentium III with 768 MB of memory and 3 * 131 GB ATA 100 hard drives. The power supply has been replaced, but is still inadequate, so a separate PC power supply is used to run the hard drives which were also replaced about 5 years ago - the original hard drives were only 40 GB each. Note that while this system is a bit slow as compared to the next two systems (which are about 4 times faster), it really does everything I need to do. PLUS, the backups are a breeze since I use Ghost 7.0 to back up the C: hard drive in about 5 minutes every other day producing a single image file of about 1 GB. (b) A 7 year old system that my wife uses which runs 32-bit WinXP with 4 GB of memory and 2 * 500 GB SATA hard drives. The CPU is a 2.67 GHz E8400 with 2 cores and 6 MB of L2 cache, so it still runs reasonably well. My wife uses it for e-mail, watching youtube videos and google searches. The system has probably been used about 16 hours every day and turned off every night. The battery probably needs to be replaced since the boot each day needs to reset the date / time when the boot hangs at the very start, but otherwise the hardware seems OK. The software is very out of date and needs to be replaced. Note that if 7 years is not a really long time for a WinXP system (specifically the motherboard, video card and power supply) which has been used for between 20,000 and 30,000 hours, then I could upgrade this system to 64-bit Win7, double the memory to 8 GB and, if appropriate, also replace the disk drives and the power supply. The mother board, video card (which supports two monitors) and CPU would be retained. System (c) has the identical motherboard as system (b) and was considered a replacement. (c) A 7 year old system which runs 32-bit WinXP with 4 GB of memory and 3 * 1 TB SATA hard drives. The CPU is a 2.83 GHz Q9550 with 4 cores and 12 MB of L2 cache, so it runs reasonably well. The system was never used very much, probably a total of 200 to 500 hours and sat in its box for the past 4 or 5 years until I have finally been persuaded to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and double the total RAM to 8 GB, the maximum the mother board supports. I just turned on the system yesterday and it runs correctly. My assumption at the moment is to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and replace my wife's system. One aspect that puzzles me is that the video card, the same video card as in system (b), no longer supports two monitors (which it did and was correctly tested with 5 years ago). My first question is if a 7 years old system such a (c) would be likely to have any serious hardware problems after sitting idle for 4 to 5 years. I can't see that any current I7 CPU from Intel is likely to be much better, so why buy another system? The hardware has been used sufficiently, so infant mortality should finished. But, would a new I7 system be a sufficient improvement to justify spending the money? So I intend to replace (b) hardware and software with (c) hardware plus 4 GB of memory (for a total of 8 GB of memory) and switch to 64-bit Win7. Is this a good plan? Or is it likely that the motherboard and video card in system (b) is still sufficiently reliable after 7 years to upgrade system (b) to 64-bit Win7 and use system (c) for something else? My second question is just how thin is the ice that I am skating on for system (a)? If the answer is VERY, then I have one alternative to buying a new I7 system which would be used to run 64-bit Win7. On the other hand, if the motherboard in system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000 hours, then system (c) would still be available. A lot of choices and things to consider. Jerome Fine

10 years, 11 months

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Spacewar paper has been published!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

> > > > On page 24 of the slides, the computer should be an IBM 1130 not 1160. > Bob Ah! Thanks for pointing that out, Bob. The slides aren't used anymore outside of the presentation, but I will fix that. (I think there's one or two other errors in those slides...check the Spacewar demonstration photo!)

10 years, 11 months

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Spacewar paper has been published!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this list has finally been published. The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT and Stanford. http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr… The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari… Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for our research. Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in. http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/ Enjoy! -Devin Monnens -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

10 years, 11 months

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Advice Requested on Life Expectancy of a PC Windows System

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jerome H. Fine > just how thin is the ice that I am skating on for system (a)? > ... > if the motherboard in system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000 > hours One data point for you: I have a whole flock of old HP desktops (actually, minitowers) from the late 90's (not sure of the exact date, but I _think_ they were released before Windows 98 came out) which I'm still running. (They've been upgraded with the PowerLeap iP3/T CPU insert with 1.4MHz Celerons, and Promise IDE controllers to run faster disks.) Although I laid in spare motherboards, CPU chips, etc so far the only problems I've had are that one of the iP3/T's died, and a mouse port died (easy to work around, using a USB mouse). Of course, these are HP machines, and relatively well engineered, so I can't extrapolate to other brands, but... Noel

10 years, 11 months

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Spacewar paper has been published!

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Devin Monnens wrote: >It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote >with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this >list has finally been published. > >The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to >Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a >bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper >explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and >provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at >Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT >and Stanford. > >http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr… > > >The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games >Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here: > >https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari… > >Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for >our research. > >Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including >anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or >memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data >through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in. > >http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/ > >Enjoy! > >-Devin Monnens > > Check

10 years, 11 months

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Digital featured on MST3K: Beast of Yucca Flats!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

I never expected to see this one today: footage of Digital's Puerto Rican plant on MST3K: The Beast of Yucca Flats! The PDP-8 is featured. https://youtu.be/BRhGW53eoxY?t=26m33s -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

10 years, 11 months

2
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"Computer museum seeks BBC Micro fixers"

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

If you're handy with a screwdriver and soldering iron, and near TNMOC: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33291036

10 years, 11 months

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Cray J932SE system for sale

by ethan＠757.org

Hello everyone! I have a J932SE system I am interested in selling. It has 32 CPUs and if I remember correctly 2 megawords of memory. IOS-V chassis (4x VME sparcstations that network boot from Sun Sparcstation 5 SWS that provide io path to disks.) 4x 9GB hard drives. Seagate full height with Cray firmware. The chassis exist for 24 hard drives. I have Unicos 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2. Not original media. I've gotten it to the point where the SWS side comes up (those run VxWorks) then Unicos starts to boot for install then kernel panics. I haven't had a ton of time to troubleshoot it. System was located in a hackerspace in Norfolk where there was needed power but went back into climate controlled storage after we lost the space. The CPU rack is around 6' deep and 23" wide internally. Has 5 x 5000 watt Pioneer Magnetics power supplies. Uses two 30 amp 220v feeds. The Disk/IOS rack is shallower (Same depth as the smaller J916 system) and 19" wide internally. Uses a single 220v 30 amp feed. It is the peak of my computer collecting hobby, but younger generation screwed out of housing opportunities so owning stuff like this is hard when you rent and get bumped around. So looking to find it a new home and stick with the plastic computers. Note, it probably need to be on a concrete floor. It weighs 2000+ pounds. Movable with a penske truck with liftgate by removing all of the boards. Looking for around $9000. Located in Norfolk Virginia. I relocated to a better area so pick up would have to be on weekends, I can drive down to facilitate purchase. Always stored in climate controlled storage. A much better deal when compared by weight to the Altair, IMSAI and Apple I systems. ;-) Rare opportunity to pick up a rare system! Thanks. -- Ethan O'Toole

10 years, 11 months

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Fwd: unable to post to list (From Cindy at ElecPlus)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, forwarded from Cindy, who isn?t able to post for some reason. Any advice I should offer her for posting from her other ISP? - Mark Begin forwarded message: From: <sales at elecplus.com<mailto:sales at elecplus.com>> Subject: unable to post to list Date: June 29, 2015 at 8:42:42 AM CDT To: Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu<mailto:mtapley at swri.edu>> HI Mark, I sent this email to the list admin, but apparently my emails do not get through to the list. Could you help me out please? Previously I was able to send messages to the list from my work computer, but I have closed the warehouse, and now my postings never appear. I have no clue why! Perhaps because I use a different ISP at home than I did at work? At any rate, I have pile of old stuff still to move out. Many free; a small charge for some things. Could you please post this list for me, and let me know how I can do it directly in the future? Thank you! Cindy Croxton Master Handbook of 1001 Practical Electronic Circuits, Solid State Edition, $10 + shipping Quarterdeck expanded memory manager 386, includes 5.25" floppy and 2 books, $5 + shipping Getting Started with TRS-80 BASIC For Use With Models I, III, and 4, $10 + shipping Using Super Utility+ 3.X. Super Utility 4/4P, and PowerTool, $5 + shipping Radio Shack Hard Disk System Startup TRS-80 Model 4/4P $5 + shipping Earl's Word Power for RadioShack 32K Model, III, or 4 computers, includes 5.25" disk and manual, $10 + shipping TRS-80 Data File Programming, A Self-Teaching Guide, $7 + shipping Radio Shack Introduction to Your Disk System for Model 4 Free + shipping MISOSYS Catalog 86-2 lists software for the TRS-80 Free + shipping All are in excellent condition.

10 years, 11 months

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